Thermal control cable



May 22, 1923. 1,455,805 1 F. W. PARSONS THERMAL CONTROL CABLE Filed May 5, 1922 r Y 9 lo 9 lo 9 ,a 1o I5 I, 'Ifl :Il A Ill.

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Patented May Z2, 1923.

FREDERICK VJ'. PARSONS, Ol CLEVELAND, OHO.

THERMAL CONTROL CABLE.

Application filed May 8,

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, Fnnnnmon l/V. FAR- soNs, a citizen of the United States. residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Ther1nal Control Cable, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a thermal control cable and my general object is to provide a fusible wire or cable adapted to be stretched along the walls and ceilings and underneath and over and through any part or place in a single room or any number of rooms in a building where the fire hazards or risks make it desirable or necessary to effect immediate operation of some safety device, signal or alarm within or without such building upon the breaking out of a fire in any protected spot or place in the room or building. More specifically, my object is to provide a cable of indeterminate length made in sections united together with fusible couplings or fusible solder, whereby when any one of these fusible places of union soften or melt the cable-'will part immediately under a slight strain or tension.v

In the annexed drawing, Fig. l is a sectional view of a building, showing a fire door having a tripping device connected with and under the control of a fusible cable constructed according to my invention and stretched in running engagement with sheaves or pulleys mounted upon the ceiling and walls of two rooms of the builds ing. Fig. 2 is anL enlarged view of a relatively short length of cable but embody-- ing several sections and fusible unions, and Fig. 3 is a larger sectional view longitudinally through one of the solder unions. Fig. 4 is across section on line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

In many industrial establishments the fire hazards are so great that every precaution is taken to prevent fires and the spread of any fire which may start oroccur. Thus it is a common expedient to employ overhead sprinkling systems, electric signaling systems and alarms, fire doors and windows, etc., which operate automatically to perform their particular function when the fire occurs within the protected zone. The present invention, comprising a sectional fusible cable 2, is particularly designed for use in connection with such systems, alarms, fire doors and windows, and is exemplified herein in connection with a gravity sliding fire door 3 operating to close a doorway 4l in one of the walls of the building B. A pivoted tripping lever 5 having a catch 6 at one end is adapted to engage an arm 7 fixed to door 3 and to hold the door open as long as the counterweighted arm 8 of the lever is upheld. T o that end l have conceived the idea of using a relatively long wire cable 2 made of short sections 9 united together at their meeting ends by bonds 10 of fusible solder. The number of sections and fusible bonds used are dependent upon the length of the cable required to reach any remote orl distant point from the fire door whether located in the same room or in other rooms near or adjoining. The fusible bonds lO are preferably placed at close intervals, say every six feet, to provide a multiple of parting places in a single cable stretched taut along the walls, or ceiling of the building and. passing in running engagement with pulleys or sheaves ll mounted whereever deviation in direction of the cable or a suspensory support .therefor is required.

ik single cable may extend either on straight or circuitous lines throughout a room and to other rooms adjoining, andv also pass underneath work benches, or above or parallel with storage bins containing inflammable goods or materials, and each fusible bond in this extended chain of links establishes an independent protective fire Zone. A fire starting in any one of these zones will have an immediate effect on the cable and the tripping lever or other device with which the cable is connected.

As shown in Fig. l, cable 2 is held taut and under constant tension by a weight l2 which is heavier than the counter weight ll on the tripping lever. In this way the door is held open as long as the cable does not part, but if any one of the numerous fusible bonds disunite due to fire or heat radiated in its immediate area the cable will part and the counterweight 1l will trip :he door and permit it to close by gravity long before the fire could reach the door and spread to the other room.

As shown in Fig. 3, the flexible cable sections consist of twisted wire strands, but the ends or terminals of each cable section are opened and spread apart to provide straight parallel strands let which may be interlaid between the corresponding straight end strands lil of the next succeeding secmay vvary considerably and have different fusing properties dependent upon the place of use of the cable. The straight strands as interlaid and united together `with the fusible solder permit the cable sections to part very readily under atensile strain when .eX- posed to'heat at the desired temoeratures, but nevertheless the sections are strongly bonded and united together under all other` conditions.

A sectional cable embodying a multiplicity of-fusible joints, bonds orunions as described may be made in any length and extend many hundredvfeet through a factory or. other building and function el'liectively throughoutl its fulllength. vlt is also an article of manufacture and sale .in itself, being adaptable to andl useful as a Vcontrol element in many difl'er'ent kinds of tire protective systems and appliances. Therefore,

LIvdovnot claim in this application the particular combination of appliances shown and described herein, but claim instead the controlA element itself in its preferred form andin and to. any and all modifications thereof'to .vhichl: may be entitled.

What Iclaim is:

l. As an article ofmanufacture and sale, a thermal. control cable for fire` protection luses, comprising a series vof cable sections made of twisted ivire strands, the strands being separably interlaid.y at their meeting ends and bonded together solely with relatively'small bodies of low fusing solder,

said bodies being ofrelatively small dimesses tiplicity of relatively short sectionsy of twisted Wire strands, the respective meeting extremities of all of said sections having the strands untivisted and spread apart and interlaid on substantially parallel lines and inter-digitally united together solely -With lovY fusing solder, the said cable and its,

fusible unions of solder being of relatively small diameter and Without sharper abrupt projections throughout itslengt l t. As an arti/clel of manufacture and sale, a comparatively long and slender' `tension Wire cableforlire 'protection uses. made of a relatively large numbery of strands sepa rably interlaid on substantially parallel lines and bonded together solely with relatively small cylindrical bodies of low-fusing solder with smooth rounded ends, vthe cable as ai Whole having a substantially continuous smooth surface of relatively small diameter throughout its length.

In testimony whereof l atlix my signaf` ture in presence of a Witness.

FREDERICK W; PARSONS. Witness: J f

GEO. E. KRICKER. z', 

